The Deal

Chapter 6

Dedicated to MissGlitterbutt - thank you for reading and voting on this story! Means a lot.

Samantha slyly slipped the money into the water bottle pocket of Jake's backpack as she brushed past him in the hallway, smirking as she did so. For some reason, she really wanted Jake to have his money back.

In Math that same day, when she sat down next to Leah before the second bell rang, Leah leaned over and said, "James told me that Andrea told him that Lexi told her that Bella told her that Gio told her that someone anonymous told him to give you this." And she handed her twenty three dollars and seventy-nine cents.

Samantha sighed, pocketing it. "Jake. He's obsessed with paying me back."

Leah blinked twice. "Twenty eight dollars for two coffees? Remind me to never go to Starbucks."

"I don't think it's usually that bad. Can you just slip this to Jake somehow?" Samantha raised an eyebrow and Leah's unimpressed look. "Please?"

"You're just passing the money back and forth?"

"He will  have his money," Samantha insisted.

"If he wants to pay you back, let him! You're really just using him anyway, which I'm telling you is wrong on a number of levels -"

"So the least I can do is buy him coffee and let him have his money! Besides,  he's trying to pay me back for my coffee too."

"So he's a gentleman."

"Leah, I don't actually like this guy," Samantha reminded her. "I don't care if he's a gentleman because I'm not looking for a real relationship with him."

But for some reason, the words tasted weird. Like she'd already known that, but now that she said it out loud, it felt... off. Like a lie. Even though it really wasn't.

She'd worry about that later.

"Please, Leah?"

"Do I get to call you Sammi tomorrow? Calling you Samantha is getting weird."

Samantha bit her lip. "Okay. Slip this to Jake, and you can call me Sammi again for one day."

"Two days."

Samantha sighed. "Deal." She and Leah shook hands on it.

She didn't see the money again until English class, last period, the class she had with Jake - he brushed past her in the hallway, and she figured he'd slipped it back to her somehow, but couldn't find it until a girl named Lexi said from behind her, "Excuse me, but you have a ziplock bag in your hair tie?"

A twenty dollar bill, a five dollar bill, two ones, and seventy-nine cents In quarters and pennies. Leave it to Jake to stick the money in her ponytail. How had she not felt this?

So this time, while Jake was reading off the board - he apparently paid attention like a good student, Samantha was realizing now that she looked at him more often - she tossed the little bag of money into his backpack.

But when she got home, she once again found it in her English textbook.

She immediately texted Jake: Are you ever going to give up?

She laughed lightly and leaned back against the headboard of her bed, and a few seconds later, she heard the notification on her phone.

No. Are you?

Nope, she typed. Then, I guess this will go on forever then. I'm pretty stubborn.

I guess it will. So am I.

Samantha actually really didn't know what to make of him. She liked this kid. He was funny in his own right, and, well, you could hold a nice conversation with him and not worry about interruptions. It was like he just didn't give a crap about the world but was still respectful towards people.

If he didn't get too mad that she used him to become a Queen, she hoped they could still be friends.

She flopped back on her bed. Something just seemed inherently wrong about that sentence.

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